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Canada’s Economy Shrinks at Fastest Pace Since 1991 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aPhDiwnUTXNs&refer Excerpts from article by Theophilos Argitis June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s economy contracted at its fastest pace since 1991 in the first quarter, as the country’s businesses scaled back spending amid a slump in demand. Gross domestic product fell at a 5.4 percent annualized rate in the January through March period, after a revised 3.7 percent drop in the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a 6.5 percent annualized contraction in the first quarter, after an initially reported 3.4 percent drop. Canada’s businesses are reining in spending at the fastest pace since 1982 as U.S. demand plummets for goods such as cars and lumber, curbing export receipts. Companies cut back investment at an annual rate of 24 percent, led by lower spending for plants and equipment purchases, and they depleted inventories the most in 27 years. There was a “complete collapse in business capital spending,” said Mark Chandler, a Toronto-based strategist at RBC Capital Markets Inc., a unit of Canada’s largest bank, adding the large inventory drop may leave “possible room for rebuilding.” Chandler said he expects the pace of decline to slow in the current quarter, before the world’s eighth-largest economy records positive growth in the third quarter. The decline is the first back-to-back drop in quarterly output since 1991. Eight of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg in May predicted the economy will shrink again in the current quarter before returning to growth. The Bank of Canada, which has said it’s ready to stimulate the economy through debt purchases if the economic outlook worsens further, predicted a 7.3 percent contraction in the first quarter. While Canada’s jobless rate is at a seven-year high of 8 percent, the economy created new jobs in April for the first time in six months and sales of existing homes rose the most in more than five years. Credit markets are also improving, with the Bank of Canada’s composite index of financial market conditions rising to its strongest level last month since September.

Greater Toronto Area - Boardroom betrays the face of region Study finds only 5% of corporate leaders are visible minorities Excerpts from: http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/641617 Lesley Ciarula Taylor-Immigration Reporter | May 28, 2009 Focusing senior executives is part of the plan in the DiverseCity report, which is part of a campaign to demonstrate the benefits of creating a leadership that looks more like the population of Greater Toronto. The report, DiverseCity Counts, tallies for the first time the top leaders in politics, education, government and public and private corporations in the GTA. There is a lot of money riding on this: A Conference Board of Canada report on diversity in leadership last fall stated that underemployed immigrants with unrecognized credentials cost Canada between $2.4 billion and $3.4 billion in annual income. Studies have also documented the connection between a diverse leadership and a better bottom line, with a stronger link to global markets, more thinking outside the box and better odds of retaining talent. "This isn't about quotas. This is about finding the right leaders for the right times," said Ratna Omidvar, president of Maytree, the foundation that created the DiverseCity projects with the Toronto City Summit Alliance. "We have the capacity to create prosperity." "Counting can lead to results," said report co-author Wendy Cukier, associate dean of Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management and founder of the school's Diversity Institute. "What gets measured gets done." Federally regulated organizations are more diverse, she said, because they have been counting their visible minorities for years. Among the success stories are the 31 per cent of visible minorities on City of Toronto boards, agencies and commissions. The city identified what it wanted, set a target and met it. That is at the top of the report's plan to diversify leadership, along with getting senior executives to make finding and developing top talent a priority. Mayor Dave Barrow admits the gap in Richmond Hill is wide. Its population, of which 46 per cent is a visible minority, has elected only one government representative of a visible minority – a city councillor. "It takes a lot to commit to politics," he said. "A lot of them don't participate. ... There were very few running in the last election." The city has been recruiting minorities for the library board and committee of adjustments and other council-appointed jobs in recent months, he said. Politics is a difficult job, says Omidvar, "But please don't tell me running for a council seat is harder than running for Queen's Park." In the category of elected officials, the Ontario Legislature showed the strongest political diversity for the five GTA cities studied: eight of 35 members of provincial parliament, or 23 per cent, are from visible minorities. Omidvar was also pleased that 19 per cent of principals and vice-principals in the Toronto District School Board were visible minorities. "What happens in our schools is very important," said Omidvar. "The leadership is looking more like the children who go to school."

Mississauga's new Strategic Plan launched! http://www.weeklyvoice.com/2009/corporate/terms.php Over a thousand people attended the launch of the City of Mississauga's new Strategic Plan on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. The full-house for the evening event was treated to an in depth review of the Plan followed by a speech by Dr. David Suzuki, award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. “We created this plan through feedback, comments and suggestions from our residents,” said Mayor Hazel McCallion. “It’s the plan they asked us to develop to make Mississauga a better City.” The Strategic Plan was approved by Mississauga City Council on April 22, 2009. It was the result of a two-year process undertaken by the City of Mississauga that began with a public engagement campaign. The plan sets standards and guidelines to help shape the City’s future as it continues to develop and grow into one of Canada’s largest municipalities. “City staff have put in a tremendous amount of work into developing this plan,” said Janice Baker, City Manager and CAO. “The end result is a wonderful strategy where Mississauga will inspire the world as a dynamic and beautiful global City.” Five pillars for change are identified in the plan. Each pillar is connected to specific action items which will be carried out to meet the goal of the Strategic Plan. These pillars are: Move – developing a transit oriented City Belong – ensuring youth, older adults and new immigrants thrive Connect – completing our neighbourhoods Prosper – cultivating creative and innovative businesses Green – living green Dr. David Suzuki praised Mississauga for developing such an environmentally responsible and proactive plan and said, “I am thrilled and delighted with what Mississauga is doing.”  http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/conversationmississauga

Canada, Unemployment 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/090605/dq090605a-eng.htm June 5, 2009 Following gains in April, employment decreased by 42,000 in May, led by further manufacturing losses in Ontario. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years. Since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,000 or 2.1%. While there were pronounced losses in Ontario in May, employment increased in Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, and was little changed in all other provinces. In addition to manufacturing losses in May, transportation and warehousing also declined. Public administration was the only industry with a notable employment increase. Employment declines in May affected mostly men and women aged 25 to 54, while there were employment increases among women aged 55 and over. There were large declines in full-time employment (-59,000) in May, bringing total full-time losses since October to 406,000 (-2.9%). Over the same period, part-time employment has continued to trend up, increasing by 44,000 (+1.4%).

United States Jobless Rate Hits 9.4 Percent in May; Layoffs Slow http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/05/ Excerpts of Article By Neil Irwin | Washington Post Staff Writer | Friday, June 5, 2009 Employers slashed jobs at a much more measured rate than expected in May, even as the unemployment rate soared above 9 percent for the first time in 26 years, the Labor Department said today. According to data that simultaneously show how deep the recession has become and offer hope that it might taper off in the months ahead, a net total of 345,000 net jobs were cut in May -- terrible by most standards but the smallest rate of job loss since September. Economists had expected a much worse loss, of as many as 525,000 jobs. The Labor Department also said that April job losses were somewhat less severe than originally reported. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate -- which is based on a survey of households rather than of businesses -- rose to 9.4 percent, from 8.9 percent in April. The last time the jobless rate was that high was 1983. The information was welcome news, despite the rising jobless rate, because it suggested the furious pace of job losses -- which peaked at 741,000 jobs lost in January -- is finally easing. It is the strongest evidence yet that the economy's downdraft of the winter has given way to a more steady, measured decline. That said, the labor market is far from rosy. Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, 7 million people have become unemployed, including an additional 787,000 in May alone.

UK 'One million more to lose jobs' Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8062417.stm Leading economist David Blanchflower has predicted that at least one million more people will lose their jobs before unemployment peaks in the UK. Speaking to Newsnight he said 100,000 people will lose their job each month "at least until the end of the year". He warned we face a "lost generation" of young people if the government fails to invest in the future. Mr Blanchflower is retiring from the Monetary Policy Committee, whom he often defied by calling for rates cuts. In an interview for Thursday's Newsnight programme, Mr Blanchflower described the current labour market as "pretty terrible", saying: "We've actually had the worst month's unemployment figures we have ever seen, the largest increase in a single month, the highest percentage increase in a single month." And he warned that the situation was only going to get worse: "My view is we're going to see an average of one hundred thousand a month, at least for the end of the year, so unemployment is certainly going to rise by a significant amount, perhaps by another million, perhaps by more." He said that such dire circumstances needed to be tackled to avoid the creation of a "lost generation" of young people: "We're talking about nearly nine hundred thousand under 25 year olds now and when the class of 2009 graduates, there will be more than a million. "This is everywhere around the country. This is not just unskilled people. Its people who are leaving the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and London and Exeter. It's a whole generation of people spread across the spectrum who we can't write off." 'Misread the data' Mr Blanchflower also told Newsnight that fellow members of the MPC could have forecast the recession earlier, but misread the data. "There are some difficulties in actually getting accurate data in a recession. Its hard to seasonally adjust things and get the right data, and get data that, if you like, forecasts thing very well, in the way that it did in benign times. "But if you look back now and say what data did we have at the beginning of 2008, the answer is I think that we could have forecasted, we could have looked at the qualitative data. "Its quite clear if you look now at the data that if the UK went into recession in about April or May 2008. And it was pretty clear in the data then, people just weren't reading it right," he said.